The Lone Wanderer

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Nesha asked as Percy wrapped the bloody garments around a large stone, tossing it in the murky swamp. A few bubbles rose to the surface, releasing a putrid stench of rot upon popping.

The group had already reached Bogside town, though they hadn’t entered it yet. Entering while wearing his bloodstained bandit clothes and coming from the direction where they had killed the guards would only spell trouble down the line. Instead, they had circled around the town, stopping by the Grisly Bog to get Micky settled first.

“It would be riskier to leave them in our possession. If somebody saw them, they’d know it was us. Plus, I don’t have enough space to keep them in the amulet forever.” Percy said, pinching his nose.

“I get that, but wouldn’t it be better to leave them where they died than bring them here, in the vicinity of the town where we’ll be staying?” Nesha didn’t let go.

“Nesha… If it gets to the point that House Tantalus is combing the swamp waters with a spoon, we’ll be fucked either way.” he said, putting the debate to rest.

Suddenly, a large shape rushed out of the swamp, drenching Percy in a splash of brown water. It was a crocodile, though it was twice as long as a normal one, coated in a layer of spiky scales. It pounced on the duo, opening its oversized maw wide, preparing to chomp the unsuspecting humans down.

Sadly for it, however, the humans weren’t quite as unsuspecting as it had thought.

Right before the beast reached them, a second shape rushed their way, this one smaller but much, much faster. Its plumage was covered in dense amber lines that branched out of its heart and sternum both, reaching every corner of its body. As for its feathers, they were softly glowing in a green colour, with two vortices swirling behind the tips of its wings. Naturally, it was Micky, who had already warned Percy of the crocodile, having spotted it via Soul Vision long before it revealed itself.

Flying over the monster’s neck, the crow slammed it to the ground, as his talons carved a path through the tough scales, releasing sparks in the process. Blood gushed out wherever they passed, as the Yellow beast’s soul was cleanly split in two. Carried by inertia, the lifeless carcass then slid in the mud for a couple more feet, before Percy stopped it with his boot.

“Great. Because I didn’t stink enough before.” he groaned, trying to swipe some of the blood and the swamp water off his clothes.

“At least Micky seems to be doing better.” Nesha shrugged.

Percy couldn’t help but click his tongue in annoyance seeing that she was dry as a leaf in the desert, having used him as a shield. But he shook his head, not in the mood to get into an argument. Anyway, he was going to throw the bandit clothes away as soon as he procured some clean ones.

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“Yeah. If only I could heal by stuffing my face full of mana cores…” he replied, shifting the weight off his injured leg as he tossed his familiar an envious glance.

“Are you going to be alright here?” he asked the crow.

Micky was busy digging through the crocodile’s sternum for his snack, so he only replied through their bond.

‘Good.’

“Just remember this isn’t the ground level of the Spire. There are Yellow beasts everywhere.” Percy warned again.

The young man knew none of these animals should pose much of a threat to his familiar – but only as long as he remained careful. Of course, that was assuming he didn’t run into a Green one. Luckily, those were quite rare on Remior. The Fungal Spire was an exception, as its extremely mana-rich environment allowed higher grades to thrive.

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“So, what’s the plan?” Nesha asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

“I can’t go into the town looking like this. Can you buy me some clothes?” Percy asked.

She nodded, prompting him to look inside the amulet for some change. However, he frowned a second later, realizing they had a problem.

“Shit. The only money we have is from the Guild…” he said, his face twisting into a grimace.

“You haven’t travelled much, have you?” Nesha asked, clearly not as concerned as him.

Percy raised an eyebrow, though he didn’t say anything, waiting for her to elaborate.

“The Guild’s currency is just as widespread as gold and silver across Remior. At least, I’ve never heard of a place that didn’t accept it.”

Next, she proceeded to give him a quick rundown of the exchange rates. Apparently, one silver coin was valued at about 1.4 contribution points, with gold coins a hundred times more expensive, and copper coins a hundred times cheaper. 𝔯

“Won’t it give away the fact that we came from the Guild though?” Percy asked.

“Nine out of ten people who carry contribution points have never stepped foot there.” she shook her head.

Percy exhaled in relief. That was one less thing they’d have to worry about, at least. Of course, they still couldn’t reveal too much money, or they might blow their cover as commoners.

“Make sure to enter the town from the other side. And try to be seen by as few people as possible. It’s better if nobody is sure when exactly we arrived.” he advised.

“Do I look like I can go on a stealth mission?” Nesha asked in an irritated tone, pointing at her eyes. “We’ll be lucky if I manage to spot the shops.”

Percy scratched his head in embarrassment, realizing it might not be that wise to send the girl with the poor eyesight stumbling through the town in the middle of the night.

“On second thought, maybe it’s better to wait until sunrise then. We don’t even know if there’s anything open this late.”

Nesha groaned, clearly as impatient to wash up and sleep on a proper bed as he was. But she didn’t argue back, knowing his words made sense.

“Do we have any rations left?” she suddenly asked.

Percy sifted through the amulet, also feeling quite hungry. Even the disgusting smell of rotten eggs failed to quell his appetite, as they hadn’t eaten anything since before the fight against the members of House Tantalus. Though he came up empty-handed a few seconds later.

“None. But we do have some crocodile meat, if Micky leaves us any.”

After managing to steal a hindleg each from the carcass – much to the crow’s dismay – the two walked some distance away from the water, setting up camp at a spot that stank a little less. Lighting up a fire, Nesha began roasting their dinner, as Percy looked for a dry place for her to sleep. It would be best if she didn’t walk into the town covered in mud tomorrow.

“Say, can you give me a second core?” Nesha asked out of the blue.

Percy’s eyes widened, caught off-guard by the request. Naturally, he’d long considered the possibility of intentionally disseminating the Moirais’ Decree, even before he learned what it was called. In fact, they’d discussed it with baldy at length back when he was still at home.

Of course, that hadn’t been an option at the time. Back then, Percy had spent over a year trying to patch his own soul up, and he hadn’t even been close to dying. The prospect of injuring somebody to the verge of death and then hoping to save them in time was, frankly…

“Too dangerous.”

His only success had been Gabe, and even then, they had used a god’s mana to fix his damaged soul. Percy had no idea if he could replicate the feat. The only other situation that came close was back when he saved Nesha inside the hive. It was true her injuries at the time had been quite severe, and he did manage to heal her, by relying on the mana Micky got from the Starry Knight’s soul.

Still, there was no guarantee it would work a second time, nor could they kill a Green on demand. Plus, the actual process of possessing somebody always damaged their soul some more, so that could easily leave his host past the point of no return. Overall, this just wasn’t something Percy wanted to test on a friend.

“I’m willing to take the risk.” Nesha said, her eyes glinting with resolve.

“But I’m not.” Percy said. “Nesha… I suggest you stop trying to look for an easy way to get stronger. You think I haven’t noticed how you’re putting off training with your affinity?”

Nesha bit her lip upon being called out.

“I’ve never really trained with it. I don’t even know how to go about it.” she muttered weakly, before raising her voice. “Why do you care anyway?! Worst case scenario, you’ll have one less person to brew elixirs for!”

Percy sighed.

“How about you walk me through your grand plan. Let’s say I help you out and we succeed. What then? Do you think you’ll instantly become an expert on using the new core? You’ll have to train with it too, you know.”

Nesha clenched her fists, but didn’t say anything. Eventually, Percy spoke again.

“Listen. I’ll give you some tips to get you started, but you’ll have to put in the work.”